Gin no Himitsu
by Sanctus Luna
Summary: Mao find Bakura collapsed in her garden after the series ended, after the battle with Yugi in the last season, all he can remember is the shadow realm. Yami BakuraXOC
1. Chapter 1

Mao opened her eyes slowly and blinked a couple of times

Mao opened her eyes slowly and blinked a couple of times. She rolled over and looked at her alarm clock. It was 7:30, miles too early too be up on a Sunday morning. But she had fallen asleep early that night, and wasn't that tired, not tired enough to want to go back to sleep anyway.

She gazed out of her bedroom for a few seconds, listening to the sound of a blackbird singing in a tree just outside her house, before getting out of bed and turning on the hall lights.

She walked quietly through the house, treading softly so she wouldn't wake her mother, and turned on the kitchen lights. She turned on the grill and placed two slices of bread inside it, then walking through into her living room while she waited for the bread to toast.

Her pet cat, Cornflake, came down the hallway and followed her through. She bent down to stroke him, and stood up again when she saw the swirling white snowflakes falling past the window. She walked to it and looked out at her back garden, it looked pretty, snow covered everything, perfectly smooth and white except for one area that was covered with footprints. She leaned further forward, wondering if whoever had made them was still out there. She couldn't see anybody, but now that she had moved forwards, she could see the dark red stains in the otherwise spotless snow.

She stared for a few seconds, making sure that the crimson blotches were what she thought they were, before darting back out to the hallway, pulling on a coat over her pyjamas and running out into the garden. Someone was probably out there, the footprints looked fresh, and whoever it was had been bleeding.

A teenage boy, not much older than her, was staggering around in the snow, blood trickling from a shallow cut on his ankle. His hair was quite long, and so white that it blended in with the snow surrounding him.

"Um…are you alright?" Mao asked nervously, wondering if he was drunk.

He turned his head to look at her, and opened his mouth to respond. But before he could say anything, he staggered forwards and fell to the ground, unconscious.

Mao stared at him, tugging nervously at one of the furry blue cat ears protruding from her head, something she did a lot when she was nervous or unsure what to do. If she brought him into the house, her mother would definitely be confused, and would probably throw the stranger out. But she didn't want to leave him lying around in the snow, it was so cold out there, and if she kept him out of her mothers sight until she left for work, then she could keep him in the house until he woke up and could leave.

She rubbed her cold feet against each other, wishing that she had put shoes on before coming out, and grabbed the white haired boy's wrists, attempting to drag him towards the back door. She managed a few steps before dropping him again; she was freezing and not strong enough to get him the all the way to her room without stopping. Remembering that he must be much colder than her, she held on to his hands again and pulled, stopping and laying him down again when she reached the steps leading up to the door.

Lifting him up slowly, and almost dropping him several times, she carried him up the steps and into the house.

As soon as she entered the hallway she began coughing and almost dropped him. Placing his sleeping body on the soft carpeted floor, she ran to the kitchen and turned of the grill, pulling out the ruined pieces of toast and throwing them in the bin. She scratched her ear with one of her aching arms and waved the other one about to clear the smoke.

Returning to the unconscious boy in the hallway, she felt extremely grateful that her bedroom was on the bottom floor so that she would not have to carry him up any more stairs.

A few minutes later she lay him down on her bedroom floor, having pulled him along the hallway and fetched a plaster from the kitchen to put on his ankle. She took the blanket off her bed and threw it over him, running out of the room when she heard her mum calling her from the upstairs landing.

"Have you burnt something Mao?" Her mother, Yuka, asked when she reached the bottom of the stairs. "And why are you wearing you coat indoors?"

"Um, I went out to see the snow, that's why the toast got burnt, I forgot that it was there while I was in the garden." She said honestly, it was the truth, just missing some parts out.

"Okay then." Yuka said, sounding slightly confused. "But I thought didn't like the cold?"

"Um, yeah, I, um, just wanted to see it, um, I wore the coat because of me not liking the cold." Mao said, tugging on her ear slightly.

"Well, okay then…" She sounded tired now. "Well, I'm going back to bed now that I know the house isn't on fire." She turned and walked back to her room, leaving her daughter standing at the bottom of the stairs.

Mao walked back into her room, throwing her coat onto the bed; she would need it if she went out later. She turned to look at the white haired stranger, and saw him sitting up on the floor, staring at her with dark, russet brown eyes.

"Um, hi?" Mao said, scratching her ear again and looking at him uncertainly. "Um, you were, um, in my garden, and you fainted, um, I brought you in because it was cold…

"What, so you put me in your bedroom?" He asked, sounding irritated. "How did you even get me here, my back hurts like hell so whatever you did probably wasn't sensible."

"Um, sorry, but you were too heavy to carry the whole way…" She muttered, blushing. "I mean, um, isn't it better than being out in the snow? Even if I did make your back hurt."

"Well, its not as if I was going to die out there is it?" He said sarcastically. "I would have been absolutely fine by myself."

"Well…yes, but, you were bleeding, and you really did look like you needed help…" She said, upset by the way he was acting. "And um, why were you even in my garden?" she asked, suddenly realised how strange it seemed that he had turned up there, and that she hadn't seen any footprints leading into towards where he was standing.

"I don't know!" he snapped, lying back down again. "I was just-" He stopped halfway through his sentence when Cornflake, who had entered the room unnoticed, climbed onto his chest and lay down, purring. "Why the hell is that thing sat on me?"

Mao blushed and fiddled with one of her ears. "Erm, that's my cat…Um, I think he likes you…" She said sheepishly.

"Oh, great." He said, sounding sarcastic again. He looked up at her. "And what's with those ears anyway?" he asked.


	2. Chapter 2

Mao placed a small pile of cheese sandwiches that she had made on a plate and carried them out of the kitchen, hoping that Bakura, who had told her his name before she gone to make the lunch, actually liked sandwiches.

After he had asked her about her cat ears, she had panicked, realising that if she told him that she was wearing a headband like she did with other people then it probably wouldn't work, she spent several minutes spluttering and pulling anxiously on her left ear before she came up with a decent excuse, but by the time she had finished blurting it out, he had fallen back to sleep.

Walking through the dimly lit hallway, she wondered how long he would be staying there for, she wanted it to be a long time for some reason, though she wasn't sure why, they had only met a few hours ago, and most of the time she had known him he had been sleeping. She scratched her ear absentmindedly and almost dropped the plate when she was left carrying it with only one hand.

A few seconds later she was opening the front door to her bedroom and walking in.

The first thing she saw was Bakura, sitting on her bed and staring in obvious disgust at a pink care bear that her aunt had sent her for Christmas the previous year.

She blushed. "Ah, um, that-" she started to talk but was cut off by Bakura.

"What the fuck is _that_ thing?" he asked, sounding repulsed.

"Um, it's, em, something I got for Christmas..."Mao responded, continuing to blush.

He turned his head away from the bear, as if looking at it was causing him pain. "Its absolutely _hideous_." He grinned slightly, suddenly finding something funny.

"Huh? What?" asked Mao, confused by his change of attitude.

"Its just so perfectly horrible." he replied, still grinning. He turned his head to look at Mao, and for a second she thought she could see something moving behind his chocolate coloured eyes, but she blinked, and he looked normal again.

"What?" he asked. "Am I really so beautiful that you have to stare at me like that?" Despite the fact he was still joking about, his grin had vanished, his expression becoming more serious, he did not seem to like the way she was staring at him.

"I, um, no, I was, just, um, would you like a cheese sandwich?" She thrust the tray towards him hastily, blushing.

"No, I wouldn't." he replied, sounding faintly annoyed for some reason.

"Ah, okay then, are you-" she stopped talking when the telephone started ringing and rushed back out into the hallway, returning several minutes later wearing her coat.

"I'm going to have to leave you here for a while, okay?" She said, worried that he might wander off while she was out. "I need to get some shopping done for my mum."

"No, your not going to have to leave me here." Bakura said, standing up."I'm coming with you." The last part was a statement, not a request.

"Um, okay!" Mao said, surprised by his decision , but pleased as well. "Would you like to borrow a coat? Its freezing out there, and you might have already got a cold from being out there in the garden earlier."

"I'll be fine." he replied, walking out of the door ahead of Mao, who hurried after him.

Nearly three quarters of an hour after they had left the house they were standing at the checkout while the girl at the counter added up the prices of their things. Shopping seemed to take much longer with Bakura around, Mao thought, placing the groceries in bag without really concentrating on it, but still, it was much more interesting than when she went alone.

She looked up when the girl told her the cost of what she had bought and stared at her in confusion for a couple of seconds before giving her the money, she had shopped here for supplies lots of times before and she could swear things didn't normally cost that much.

On the walk home she saw Bakura shivering slightly and offered to let him wear her coat, but all she got in response was a glare which, for a few short seconds, she returned, annoyed at him for being perfectly capable of carrying some of the shopping bags but still refusing to help.

Half an hour later Mao ran back into her room and and stopped right in front of Bakura, looking extremely annoyed.

She had just found out the reason for the shopping being so expensive while she was unpacking the bags.

"You could have at least asked if we could get them!" She said, so loudly she was almost shouting.

"Well isn't it your own fault for not looking at what you were buying?" Bakura replied, a slightly mocking grin spread across his pale face and his long white hair bouncing up and down on his shoulders as he jumped swiftly up onto Mao's bed.

"Look, that cost a lot, and what are we going to do with all of it anyway?" She said, thinking of the large amounts of cakes, chocolate, and other sweet food that she had discovered. She still sounded angry, although her voice had become quieter, she wasn't used to shouting.

He rolled his eyes. "Eat them, what do you think? It is food isn't it?"

"Its an awful lot of food, you'll get sick from eating all of that!" She felt slightly ill herself imagining eating all of the things that had been accidentally bought all in one night. "I mean, its all sweet foods and cake and stuff!"

"Well, it won't make me sick." He stated confidently. "And who says _I'm_ eating all of it? You'll be helping."

"What? Who decided that?" Mao spluttered, tugging agitatedly on her ear.

"I did." His brown eyes were closed and he was now leaning back on the bed, his hands behind his head.

Sighing, she gave in, arguing with him seemed pretty pointless, he just stated things, not doubting that people would agree, convinced that he was getting his way, and well, to be honest, he was right. "Okay, I will eat them with you, but don't do stuff like that again, please."

"Again?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "Am I always shopping with you now then?" He raised his feet onto the bed, getting mud on the blankets, he hadn't bothered removing his shoes.

"I, um, well, I meant, if you do shop with me again, um, don't do that." She said nervously, having not thought about the fact he was likely to leave and go home soon. He said nothing in response, which Mao was glad of, of he had spoken he might of told her when he would be leaving, and she preferred not knowing, then it seemed like there was a chance he would stay longer.

They both just sat there for awhile, well, Mao sat, Bakura continued lying down on her bed, but after awhile they heard the door opening as her mum returned from work and she dashed off towards the kitchen to hide the things that Bakura had put in the trolley.

That night, she slept on the floor, as Bakura had fallen asleep on her bed earlier and she couldn't manage to move him. Just as she was about to drift off, she remembered the strange look in the pale boys eyes she had seen earlier, but before she could wonder about what it could have been, she was sleeping.


	3. Chapter 3

Two days later, the food was still not all gone

Two days later, the food was still not all gone. They were both absolutely stuffed, after twenty minutes of constant cake devouring, well, constant for Bakura, Mao had eaten more slowly and carefully, and was trying to avoid getting the carpet too covered in crumbs, not that Bakura had made that easy for her. Feeling so sick they couldn't even face considering eating more cake, letting alone actually doing it, they had hidden the rest for the next night, when Bakura had claimed the he couldn't be bothered with having anymore and that they should put it off another night, Mao didn't complain, having never actually wanted to eat any of the food the white haired boy had forced her to buy. And though she worried that it might start going mouldy if they left it any longer, she was eager to avoid having any more.

Cornflake's orange tail swished across the wooden floor as he followed Mao in her march towards the bedroom door. She pushed the door open and leapt at Bakura before he could notice what was happening and attacked his pale face with the damp cloth she was holding. He spluttered and wriggled away from her, glaring confusedly.

"What the hell are doing?!" he shouted, pushing her away with his right and as she tried to approach him a second time.

"Cleaning your face!" She yelled back, laughing at his expression and attempting to reach his face with the cloth. "Because I'm sick of seeing that huge smudge of chocolate that's been on your cheek for two whole days!" She managed to knock his arm away and knock him to the floor, wiping off the chocolate with a look of triumph on her now slightly red face. But it was soon replaced by shock when she fell to the floor underneath the weight of angry, pale skinned boy now sitting on top of her, glaring at her, he did not like being pushed over, especially by someone who was much weaker than he was.

But she wasn't thinking about the fact she was being crushed, because as she looked up at him she saw something strange in his beautiful, rust coloured eyes, the same as she had the other day, like shadows were moving around inside the pitch black pupils, like something was inside them…

Something cold and white fell on her face, covering her eyes, she gasped and pulled it off, recognising the cloth she had just used to clean the chocolate off Bakura, who was still sitting on top of her, his thin arms folded across his chest. Though he was not going to admit it, something in the way she had stared at him in those few quick seconds had unnerved him, which was why he had covered her eyes with the cloth.

"Right." He said, his voice sounding slightly threatening, despite the fact he was not really being serious. "If you swear not to do that ever again, you can get up, if you do not, you shall be sat on for all eternity."

Nodding quickly, Mao agreed to never try and remove chocolate from his face ever again, and was allowed to stand up again.

"We should be quieter though." she warned him. "Um, my mum might hear and come and investigate."

Bakura sighed and rolled his eyes. "I don't understand why you make such a fuss, I mean come on, she must be some sort of deaf old woman, she hasn't heard us at all since I managed to somehow end up in you garden a few days ago." He said, showing no concern about whether or not Mao would appreciate her mother being called a deaf old woman. "Any way" he continued. "Why is it always _her _you worry about, I mean, do you not have a father?"

"I do, um, he's in hospital at the moment." She replied, fiddling with the furry blue tip in one he ears. "He's broken his leg."

"Oh." He replied, not bothering to ask when her father would return or how he had got injured in the first place. Then another question occurred to him. "Where was he from? Your skin looks darker than most peoples."

"So? Yours looks very light, and you have white hair." Mao answered, hoping she didn't sound rude. "My father is from here; well, not from here exactly, but from Japan. But my mother was born in Egypt, which is why I look like this. But we decided to live here, though we still go to Egypt for holidays and all that." She looked up at Bakura and blushed slightly, she hadn't realised how much she'd been talking, he's only asked where her father came from.

"Egypt?" He asked, not looking bothered by how much she talked, to Mao's surprise, he even looked quite interested. "Hmmm, that's…strange…" he said quietly, not realising Mao was listening and would be confused by this.

"Um strange?" she asked, scratching her ear. "I don't understand how it could be strange…"

"Hm? Well, it's strange to me." He replied, looking slightly embarrassed and looking around the room, though he didn't really have a reason for doing it.

"Oh, um, can I ask why?" she said, walking over across and picking up something that had been hanging on that bedpost before returning to where she had previously been sat. It looked like some sort of strange instrument and she rattled it in her gloved hands as she waited for Bakura's response.

"Well, you can ask, but you won't get an answer." He said when she sat down, watching the strange instrument she was holding. It was made from metal, and looked like some kind of rattle, with a long handle, and at the end of it a U-shaped frame, with three long thin pieces of metal sticking through it, they were about three time the width of the arch shape, and ended quite a long way from the frame in hooks. Inside of the frame the cross-bars had small hoops and rings hanging from them, which made a quiet tinkling sound as Mao rattled the instrument absentmindedly as she answered.

"Well, okay then." She frowned slightly; she really didn't understand why Bakura found the fact that her mother was Egyptian strange.

"What is that anyway?" he asked, still watching the rattle.

"Oh." Mao said loudly, she hadn't realised that she should have explained about it. "It's a sistrum." She explained hurriedly. "It's a kind rattle, that um, mostly is associated with Egypt and stuff, I saw it in a shop when we went on holiday there when I was about 5, well um, not about, it was my birthday so I was exactly 5, that's why we went there in October instead of summer, because my birthday is on the 31st. For some reason I'd really like it, so my mum got me it as a birthday present and when you asked me about where my dad came from it reminded me about it so I got it and…um….err…." She blushed again, her face going very red; she'd started ranting again when she had been asked a simple question. "Um, sorry."

"Okay then." Said Bakura, having not been too bothered by the amount she had talked, as he had just seen something carved into sistrums handle. "Pass me it."

Mao did as he said and he looked closely at the handle. There were three symbols carved into it, hieroglyphs. The first looked similar to a candle; a vase shape with a line across it, near to the top, on top of it was a small half circle, with two small diagonal lines going up from each side of it. The second was the top half of a circle, and the third was what looked like a woman kneeling down, facing left.

He was unable to understand what it said, but he still stared at the symbols for a second before returning the instrument to Mao, whose green eyes were filled with confusion as she took it back, she couldn't understand what was wrong with the white haired boy sitting on the carpet next to her, he was acting different to usual, more serious.

But it didn't take long for him to return to his normal mood. Raising his head to look at Mao, he grinned and pulled on the end of Mao's ear, unsurprised when he felt that it was growing out of her head.

"Wait, what are you doing?!" She asked, going red and struggling away, but Bakura just reached over to her and carried on doing it.

"Seeing if you if you'll start pulling the other one when this makes you nervous." He replied casually, as if this was a perfectly normal thing to do.

"Hey!" Mao shouted, blushing even more, and only just managing to stop herself doing what Bakura had predicted, but he noticed the way her hand had moved and started laughing.

Letting go of her ear, he stood up and walked back over to where the still quite large pile of cakes and sweets had been hidden.

"Well come on!" He shouted impatiently back at Mao. "We've still got all this to finish!"

Groaning loudly, she walked over to where he was sat down next to him, hoping that she wouldn't feel too sick.


End file.
